BECKTON IN A
KILT?!
May 22Ross
Dunkerton may have retired from professional
rallying but Australia has a new sensation ready
to take place in the overseas arena. Twenty four
year old Wodonga driver Marty Beckton has won the
"Driver to Scotland" competition and
will be pitting his skills against Europe’s
best rally drivers.
Organised by the Australian
Sports Commission and rallying bodies within the
Confederation of Australian Motorsport, the
competition aims to have an Australian driver in
the World Championship by the year 2000. Eligible
only to drivers aged 25 and under, the contest
provides an opportunity to compete outside the
isolated Australian rally championship scene.
An Opel Astra will be
provided for Beckton to drive in the Scottish
International Rally on 6th - 7th
June.
The announcement of
Beckton’s win follows his outstanding
success in the recent Australian Super Series
round in Queensland where he matched the times of
experienced rally driver Ed Ordynski, a former
Australian Rally Champion and winner of the
gruelling Round Australia Trial. Beckton finished
third outright in the second heat in Queensland,
and the result saw him grab the attention of
Australia’s top rally drivers.
As well as Queensland, the
1996 Rally of Canberra and this year’s
Forest Rally in Perth, were also assessment
rounds for the competition. In Canberra, Beckton
was leading Group N until electrical problems,
but a careless spectator vehicle on a transport
stage forced a crash and ended any chance of
success in Perth.
Beckton is ecstatic with
the Scottish prize, which will help him realise
his goal to compete overseas.
"My ambition has
always been to compete in the UK, and the prize
has provided an opportunity to show that
Australians can be competitive at the top level
of rallying," he said.
Beckton has been rallying
for five years in a variety of cars including a
Datsun 280Z and a Lancia Delta. He is the
youngest ever winner of the North-East Victorian
Rally Championship and was the 1995 Tasman Cup
winner. His most recent rallies have been run in
a Proton Wira.
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